The Biden Redemption

November 3rd, 2020, will mark the day that democracy was apparently saved for the moment in the United States and the country began its long road back from the destructive and divisive Trump presidency.

Yet, unfortunately, while Biden may have won the presidency, the United States lost on moral terms. That the popular vote was so close underscores the depths to which American society has fallen. That a candidate like Trump – an accused sexual predator, racist, misogynist, and basically corrupt person could garner almost 50 percent of the popular vote speaks to the degradation of U.S. society. 

The fact that Senators of the ilk of Mitch McConnel and Lindsay Graham were reelected speaks to the deep roots that Trumpism enjoys in many parts of the United States and to the lack of moral fiber of almost half of American voters. 

What should have been a Democrat sweep and the concomitant repudiation of Trumpism has turned into a moral victory for Trump and his followers and will likely haunt the Biden presidency as it begins its term in office.

Indeed, the Republican majority in the Senate will guarantee four years of gridlock, leaving Biden politically impotent.

With respect to his governing style, President-elect Joe Biden is widely expected to bring a sense of morality and decency to the White House after a dark four years. 

He and his administration will surely try to restore faith and confidence in U.S. institutions, put knowledge and expertise behind government decision-making, heal deep divisions with global allies and once again take up the fight against the populist autocrats applauded by Trump, and pursue policies aimed at uniting a deeply divided country and polarized political system.

But he has serious challenges ahead. First, he must deal with a defeated Trump who will be hell bent on creating much mischief and, possibly, incite violence among his more militant followers on the extreme right and among white supremacists, until the handover of power.  

Second, he will inherit a pandemic that has been grossly mismanaged since its inception and have to restore the confidence in science and expertise of the many Americans influenced by Trump and conspiracy theorists and enabled by social media.

With that said, Biden is well suited to bring personal decency and probity coupled with a strong sense of empathy for the average American to the Presidency.

He can bring an international credibility that has all but been destroyed by Trump and his transactional foreign policy that has eliminated any sense of moral or political leadership that the U.S had in the past.

He can start to recreate alliances and restore treaties that benefit not only the U.S. but all countries. He can once again establish international cooperation sidetracked by Trump’s narrow international vision highlighted by his refusal to cooperate internationally to contain and defeat COVID-19 and his determination to destroy the multilateral system that, while imperfect, is essential to address global challenges that no one government can address on its own.

While he can make an impact in foreign policy, the fact that he will be opposed by almost half of the American polity, the majority of the Supreme Court that is increasingly politicized and polarized between left and right, and the Senate, will limit his ability to legislate the domestic changes that the United States so desperately needs.

And that is the tragedy of his victory.

*This article is written before the announcement of a winner in the U.S. election in order to outline the challenges I believe will face the United States under each leader

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Edición: Laura Espejo